Stock Traders Buy High Volume of TC Energy Put Options (NYSE:TRP)

TC Energy Co. (NYSE:TRP) (TSE:TRP) was the target of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors bought 16,157 put options on the company. This is an increase of 1,446% compared to the typical volume of 1,045 put options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. StockNews.com assumed coverage on TC Energy in a report on Saturday, October 5th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Veritas raised TC Energy to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of TC Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. UBS Group upgraded shares of TC Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Barclays raised shares of TC Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $43.50.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On TC Energy

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of TRP. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new position in TC Energy in the 1st quarter valued at $1,159,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in TC Energy by 15.2% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 2,109,055 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $81,599,000 after buying an additional 278,886 shares during the last quarter. M&G Plc bought a new stake in TC Energy in the first quarter worth about $111,587,000. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in TC Energy by 74.1% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 98,729 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,972,000 after acquiring an additional 42,024 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maryland State Retirement & Pension System boosted its stake in TC Energy by 1.8% in the first quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 1,302,358 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $52,355,000 after acquiring an additional 22,430 shares during the last quarter. 83.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

TC Energy Price Performance

TRP opened at $47.34 on Thursday. TC Energy has a 1 year low of $30.48 and a 1 year high of $47.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The company has a market capitalization of $49.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.40, a P/E/G ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 0.81. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $45.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.12.

TC Energy (NYSE:TRP) (TSE:TRP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The pipeline company reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.29. TC Energy had a net margin of 21.31% and a return on equity of 16.97%. The company had revenue of $2.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.78 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.71 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that TC Energy will post 3.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TC Energy Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th will be paid a $0.702 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 27th. This represents a $2.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.93%. TC Energy’s payout ratio is presently 116.80%.

About TC Energy

TC Energy Corporation operates as an energy infrastructure company in North America. It operates through five segments: Canadian Natural Gas Pipelines; U.S. Natural Gas Pipelines; Mexico Natural Gas Pipelines; Liquids Pipelines; and Power and Energy Solutions. The company builds and operates a network of 93,600 kilometers of natural gas pipelines, which transports natural gas from supply basins to local distribution companies, power generation plants, industrial facilities, interconnecting pipelines, LNG export terminals, and other businesses.